Behind the Numbers Archive: Republican Party

Republicans who agree with the tea party political movement tend to be much more likely than those who don't to say that spending should be decreased. On 13 out of 18 areas of federal spending tested in the new Pew poll, tea party Republicans are at least 14 percentage points more apt than other Republicans to want cuts.

In Dec. 2007, 22 percent of Americans said they would be less apt to vote for a Mormon presidential candidate. That was higher than the percentages saying they would be less likely to support someone who has been a religious leader (19 percent), a woman (15) or an African American (5).

But also notable is that the percentage turning away from a Mormon candidate dropped significantly - by 13 percentage points - between Dec. 2006 and Dec. 2007. Over this same time period, the percentage of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents saying being a Mormon was of no consequence rose 11 points to 72 percent, as the percentage less likely to vote for a Mormon candidate dropped from 36 to 21 percent.

Evaluations of President Obama's handling of the shootings in Tucson are highly positive across the political spectrum, with nearly eight in 10 giving him high marks for his response to the incident. Even 71 percent of Republicans say they approve of his leadership following the shootings. But reactions to Sarah Palin's handling were more measured.

The new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Republicans leading Democrats by six points among likely voters, with 49 percent backing the Republican candidate in their own U.S. House district and 43 percent behind the Democrat. Here are some highlights from the crosstabs:...

News of Republican congressional candidates' "Pledge to America" has not broken though, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Only about a third of Americans are familiar with the new GOP document; fully two-thirds express no knowledge of the conservative framework that proposes to reduce the size of government...

Republicans, Democrats and independents who took the new Washington Post poll on the state of the Republican Party told us the first words they would use to describe the GOP. Click here to see the tag clouds that show which words each group uses most....